Founded in 1934 by Claude E. Hooper (1898–1954), the company provided information on the most popular radio shows of the era.
[1] In the industry, the method was dubbed "telephone coincidence"; it superseded CAB's earlier method ("telephone recall") as the industry standard, and Hooper's prevalence eventually led to the 1946 dissolution of CAB.
[1][7] The C. E. Hooper Company collected data using telephone surveys conducted across 36 cities, during the last 13 minutes of each quarter hour broadcast period.
[4] In 1949, the Chagrin Valley Little Theater premiered a satire of contemporary radio by Everett Rhodes Castle titled "How's Your Hooper?".
", to which Stang replies "Wells, it's eh...ehh...aw, that rating doesn't mean a thing...".